Quickwall integrated building shell system

ABSTRACT

A system for quickly erecting an integrated building exterior shell. The building shell has a structural frame ( 10 ) of linear ferrous members with an I shaped cross section ( 10 ), whose flanges ( 10   a ) lie in the plane of the building shell. The open space between the structural members is filled by sliding in a snug fitting wall panel composed of core ( 12 ), exterior sheet ( 11 ), and interior sheet ( 13 ). The flanges ( 10   a ) and web ( 10   b ) physically secure wall panels in place by gripping it at the slots ( 15 ), thereby eliminating the need to use fasteners.

BACKGROUND

[0001] 1. Field of Invention

[0002] This invention relates to building construction, specifically anintegrated structural ferrous frame, which holds in place exterior wallpanels, which can be installed with or without fasteners.

[0003] 2. Description of Prior Art

[0004] Typical building construction of an exterior building wallcomposed of layers: exterior skin, insulation, and interior skin, whichare hung on structural studs, involves the cutting and joining togetherof discrete units with various fasteners, like screws or nails, inindividual well defined stages: e.g. upon the foundation an exteriorframe wall is built: vertical, parallel members which are wood or metalstuds are cut to length, secured with fasteners at regular 16″ to 24″intervals between what will become top and bottom horizontal members ofthe wall. This exterior stud frame wall can be assembled horizontally orvertically, on its intended location, or imported from a factory. Whenthe wall is braced in its intended position, usually vertical, anexterior sheathing, or “skin” is attached to the outer plane describedby the physical dimensions of the framed wall. The sheathing may be ofone of many thicknesses: from {fraction (7/16)}″ to well over 1″,depending upon design criteria, and of many types of material, e.g.typically wood or gypsum or foam or cement board, processed in manydifferent ways.

[0005] The width and height are typically from 2′×8′ to 4′×8′. The roofsystem installation typically follows and is supported on the framewall. Once the roof is weather tight, interior work can begin, electric,plumbing, etc. The interior cavity between the studs, and next to theinterior side of the exterior sheathing is filled with insulationmaterial, after which an interior sheet is fastened to the planedescribed by the height and length of the wall. The interior sheet maybe of just about any sheet of material used for the exterior sheathing,although generally the interior sheet is smoothed and painted or coveredwith some type of decorative surface.

[0006] Advances in the field commonly practiced are to assemble someportion of the wall or building in a factory, ship it to its intendedlocation, and complete the construction on site. These sections need tobe carefully positioned, braced and fastened to each other, or tospecial vertical support standards or posts. Some prefabricated wallshave windows, and perhaps insulation and doors. At the extreme entirerooms with flooring and utilities are imported and set on thefoundation. Attempts to streamline wall construction on location viasome pre-assembly have mostly proved expensive, complicated, orineffective, except in the extreme cases: sections of stud frame &sheathing only, or pre-manufactured modules about 95% complete.

[0007] Some proposed wall panels—for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,339(1987) to F. Paz is unsuitable for exterior wall use, and can be usedonly as interior decorative partitions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,197 (1997)to Jolly, is wrapped in sheet metal, very fire resistant, but veryexpensive. U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,408 (2002) to Krieger is a wall panelassembly method, but it is difficult to assemble, and requiresexpensive, custom made fasteners and support members. The same is trueof U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,649 (1992) to Katiwara: the materials are moreexpensive, and more complicated to assemble than conventional buildingtechniques. U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,434 (1977) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,004(1979), both to Day & Hutcheson, are close to my invention, but haveelectrical and structural elements inside the wall which adds greatdifficulty and cost in the initial manufacture of the wall panels, slowsassembly of the panels on the foundation, as the must all be in properorder, and the securing of tabs and channels and fasteners during theassembly on the foundation is time consuming, complicated, and requiresan experienced crew. U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,694 (2002) to Porter issimilarly complicated, with structural elements inside the wall, andequally sophisticated fasteners. These systems may have limited specialapplications, but are too expensive for widespread use.

OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES

[0008] The object of my invention is a to quickly erect a secure,weather tight building shell ready for shingles, after which exteriorfinish of brick, stucco, siding or whatever the owner or architectdesires can be applied. Accordingly, my invention is composed of readilyavailable components, and only requires skilled labor to erect theconventional structural steel frame. Once the structural frame iserected, the wall panels slide into the natural u-shaped channel of thesteel member. The steel structural frame is off the shelf

[0009] I-shaped cross-section structural steel, therefore veryinexpensive. The wall panels are composed of readily available commoditygypsum or cement or wood sheathing, with a core of insulating foam, orsome other rigid or semi-rigid material. Using commodity raw materialskeeps the cost at or below conventional construction methods, and theactual placing of the wall panels requires no special skill, no tools,no fasteners and no need to measure and cut material. The speed ofassembly reduces the final finishing and building costs. Althoughstructural steel is commonly used in commercial and industrialconstruction, and occasionally in residential construction, no one hasseen the advantage of utilizing the shape of the structural frame tohold composite wall panels in place.

DRAWING FIGURES

[0010]FIGS. 1a and 1 b shows the structural steel frame members.

[0011]FIGS. 2a and 2 b shows the wall panel front and overhead views.

[0012]FIGS. 3a and 3 b shows integrated structural frame with panels andoverhead view of wall panel interlocked with steel frame.

REFERENCE NUMERALS IN DRAWINGS

[0013] 10 Structural frame 10a Flange 10b Web 11 Exterior sheet 12 Wallcore 13 Interior sheet 14 Horizontal stud 15 Slots

[0014] Description—FIGS. 1, 2, 3

[0015] Typical embodiment of the present invention is illustrated inFIG. 1 and FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. The structural frame members (10) have an“I” shaped cross section, with whatever dimensions are economically andstructurally suitable. The wall panel is essentially a rectangular boxshaped core (12), which fits snugly in the natural channel provided bythe frame member (10). The core itself is composed of any type of rigidor semi-rigid material, such as styrene or urethane foam, but could evenbe a wooden timber or railroad tie, provided it could nestle between thesteel frame members (10). If desired, an exterior skin layer (11) ofwood, gypsum, cement, plastic, or other suitable material, could beattached to the core to fulfill the specific requirements of theeventual exterior finish application. For example, exterior rated gypsumsheathing could be used in advance of a brick or stone finish.Additionally, an interior skin of wood, gypsum, cement, or othermaterial could be affixed to the core during the core manufacture.Typically plastic resins are sprayed or flooded onto an assembly line orworktable surface, with a desired skin (11) as the base layer. Ifdesired, after the core material is in place, the opposite skin layer(13) could be laid atop the assembly. If the building designer orarchitect feels it is necessary, a horizontal stud member (14) could beincorporated between the skin(s) (11) and/or (13), at the top or bottomedge of the panel assembly. The slots (15) could be part of the assemblyformation process or cut in after the core (12) is stabilized.

[0016] Operation—FIGS. 1, 2, 3

[0017] The manner of erecting my invention begins with conventionalstructural steel frame (10) erection, with the steel positioned atregular intervals, which match the width of the wall panels (12). Thestructural member (10) must be fabricated and positioned such that theflanges (10 a) are parallel with the planes of the panel's inner andouter “skin” layers (11) and (13). Once the structural members are inplace, the wall panels are slid into position, with the first resting ontop of the foundation, the next panel slid in to rest atop the first,and so on. Each panel (12) will nestle snuggly between the structuralmembers. To provide extra stability, if desired or directed by thebuilding designer or architect, the panel edges can be secured at anydesignated overlap with fasteners such as nails or screws. Sectionswhich will become special areas, such as bathrooms, can receive panelslayered with an appropriate material, such as moisture resistant gypsumor cement board.

SUMMARY, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE

[0018] The reader can easily see the advantage of combining thetraditional 3 or 4 steps in one. The individual steps of wall framing,exterior sheathing, insulating, and interior sheathing are now replacedby simply sliding into place a wall panel combining exterior skin,insulation, interior skin, and perhaps a stud, with no need to measure,cut, trim or fasten. Openings for doors or windows can be cut in atleisure in one operation, as opposed to measuring and cutting for eachseparate conventional step. Some commercial construction uses astructural steel framing method, as does my invention, so it is no greatdeparture in terms of actual material usage and cost.

[0019] Further Advantages:

[0020] Interior and exterior surfaces are very flat, due to the panelprocessing method.

[0021] Architectural details and shapes, like pilasters, can be easilyadded to the walls at any time.

[0022] Interior and exterior layer can be a wide range of materials anddimensions, to easily meet design and finish criteria.

[0023] Panels reduce wind filtration, as components are in essence asingle, tight, unit.

[0024] Superior insulation qualities can be achieved through materialchoice and dimension.

[0025] Rapid erection of the building shell reduces construction time,cost, loss, theft.

[0026] Panels can be part of the roof or floor system, by usingappropriate ‘skin’ layer and structural members.

[0027] Although the benefits listed above contain many descriptions, itshould not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention by merelyproviding illustrations of some of the preferred embodiments of thisinvention. For example, wall panels don't have to be rectangular, butcan be cut or processed into triangular or other shapes, and the coremay be produced to include other features, such as security wiring,central vacuum pipe, etc. Thus, the scope of the invention should bedetermined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

I claim:
 1. An integrated building shell system comprised of linearferrous structural members, having an I-shaped cross section, theflanges parallel to the plane of the intended wall, with said wallformed by wall panels which are slid into place between the saidstructural members, with said wall panels substantially held fast inplace between said structural members by virtue of said cross sectionalshape of said structural member.
 2. The structural members of claim 1may have said linear axis vertical to form a wall, off vertical to forma slanted wall or roof.
 3. The structural members of claim 1 can behorizontal to form a ceiling or floor.
 4. The wall panels of claim 1 maybe held in position as said wall, said ceiling or said roof.
 5. The wallpanels of claim 1 may be a core only, or said core may have an exteriorsheathing layer, and said core and said exterior sheathing layer mayalso have an interior sheathing layer.
 6. The wall panels of claim 1 maybe any combination of said core and said sheathing layers composed ofmaterials such as wood, gypsum, plastic, metal, cement, and said layersmay vary in width, height, thickness to meet building code and designcriteria.
 7. Wall panels of claim 1 may be rectangular, square, ortriangular, if desired.
 8. Although wall panels of claim 1 are held inplace by said structural members, they can be further stabilized byfastening overlapping edges with fasteners, such as screws, or nails, orother devices.
 9. Wall panels of claim 1 may incorporate a stud ofmetal, wood, or plastic along any edge or edges to assist saidfastening, and to meet other building requirements.
 10. Wall panels ofclaim 1 may be oriented in any direction desired by architect or owner.11. Additional structural members of any shape may be added after saidwall panels are inserted in position to further stabilize saidintegrated building shell, and to provide additional desirable elements.